River Monsters S08E05 Invisible Killers

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Documentary, River Monsters S08E05 Invisible Killers   #RiverMonsters #Documentary

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00:00Mysterious tales of unsolved murder cases, suspicious attacks that could be explained by an underwater creature, always catch my eye.

00:14And recently, I came across a very strange case indeed.

00:21In 2011, on a beach in Mexico, five fishermen washed up.

00:27Dead.

00:30The article states that the corpses were badly beaten, with horrific bruises.

00:41It sounds terrible, but in a country ravaged by drug wars, finding mutilated bodies is not necessarily unusual.

00:50It's what comes next that has really grabbed my attention.

00:55It wasn't the police, but a marine biologist who was called in to investigate.

01:00Because according to the report, the finger of suspicion doesn't point to a human, but to a deadly sea creature.

01:08My name is Jeremy Wade, and I normally investigate cases of river monsters.

01:19Fresh water killers that plague the rivers and lakes of our planet.

01:23This thing really is a river monster.

01:25Mysteries of the sea are outside my comfort zone.

01:29But this story about fishermen attacked by a mysterious sea creature is so intriguing, I can't ignore it.

01:36I'm investigating a chilling story about five dead fishermen, washed up on a beach in Mexico's Sea of Cortez.

01:51One of the key clues is that the bodies were covered in strange wounds.

02:09The local marine biologist was convinced that they were the work of an animal.

02:14The marine predator that always springs to mind is a shark.

02:18But sharks leave a clear signature.

02:21A wound with the distinct curve of a shark's jaw.

02:26To get to the bottom of this case, I need some details about those mysterious wounds.

02:31But I can't track down the marine biologist in the article.

02:38Nobody's heard of him.

02:41I'm beginning to have doubts about this story.

02:44But I have unearthed other strange reports of fishermen attacked by mysterious creatures in the Sea of Cortez.

02:52This one talks about two Mexican fishermen dragged from their boats and chewed so badly,

02:58their bodies could not be identified even by their own families.

03:03And another one about a man who fell overboard.

03:07As he reached up for help, he was pulled to the depths, never to be seen again.

03:14Finding such similar stories in one location can't be a coincidence.

03:19I need to get on the ground to investigate.

03:22Mexico's Baja Peninsula is a remote strip of land separated from the mainland by the notorious Sea of Cortez.

03:38These infamous waters have a dark history of violence.

03:43Stories of hidden coves where Spanish pirates buried their treasure.

03:47And where drug cartels still bury their victims.

03:57Santa Rosalia is one of the few populated areas.

04:01A remote fishing community.

04:02I ask around to see if anyone knows about the attacks.

04:10I'm told I need to go to the beach at sunset.

04:15To speak to the locals before they head out night fishing.

04:18I ask about the five dead bodies.

04:33They say they're not aware of the case.

04:36But they do have other stories of fishermen who were attacked at sea.

04:40Including one about a man left covered in unusual bite marks.

04:43This sounds like the stories that brought me here.

04:49And adds to my suspicion that there's an elusive predator in these waters.

04:55But when I ask where I can find this man.

05:00I'm told he committed suicide.

05:03I'm too late for that victim.

05:04But the fishermen tell me the attacks happened in deep trenches off the coast.

05:13The Sea of Cortez sits on a series of major fault lines.

05:19And was formed when the Earth's tectonic plates ripped apart.

05:23Under the surface are underwater canyons.

05:26With depths reaching thousands of feet.

05:38The next morning I hire a boat to take me out to sea.

05:47I need to get my line in the water to find out what is really out there.

05:50As we approach the deep waters, I start to see an abundance of life.

06:10Some big old sea lions on this rock here now.

06:13They might look a little bit cuddly and comical out of water.

06:15But they are actually very efficient predators.

06:19They've basically got teeth rather like a dog.

06:22Like sharks, sea lions would leave very distinctive marks.

06:26And certainly not the unusual wounds I've been hearing about.

06:33But the fact remains.

06:35Fishermen here have been attacked by something that lives beneath the surface.

06:39This is what I'm going to put on the end of the line.

06:46This mimics small fish in the water.

06:49I'm using wire because the chances are anything that goes after a small fish is going to have teeth.

06:54Just clip that on here.

06:56There you go. That's ready to go.

07:00We motor at speed, so my lures move like small fish fleeing a predator.

07:04Right, all set. Now we just wait and watch.

07:14But I don't have to wait long.

07:16Oh, yep.

07:17So lift, wind down. Lift, wind down.

07:30It doesn't feel very big, whatever it is.

07:37This isn't a fish that's capable of attacking a human, but it's a promising sign.

07:42This is a skipjack tuna, and these are perfect meals for anything larger.

07:49And the fact that these are around, I mean, it's a bit like, you know, if the zebras are around,

07:53you know the lions have got to be there somewhere.

07:55I wonder if I can use this meal-sized fish to my advantage and up my game.

08:01I'm now fishing with one of these skipjacks as bait.

08:04With a whole skipjack tuna on the end of my line, I'm hoping to attract a much bigger predator.

08:11This rod just sprung back.

08:25Doesn't appear like there's anything on there.

08:27This is weird, this is weird.

08:29That was definitely a bite, but the tuna and the end of my leader are gone.

08:34Something's just bitten through a piece of wire.

08:38Anything that can bite through wire must have some serious teeth.

08:42There's clearly a big predator down there.

08:44Well, I'm not going to find out what that was, because it's gone.

08:48But I think nothing for it really but to get this line in again.

08:51With another whole skipjack as bait, I'm hoping to lure the culprit back.

09:05Oh, here we go, I saw that on the surface, saw it on the surface.

09:12This time, it looks like it's still there.

09:15We used the power of the engine to set the hook.

09:18Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!

09:35I'm in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.

09:39Investigating mysterious attacks on fishermen.

09:42Unusual bites and nightmare encounters.

09:46I'm searching the water, trying to lure in a predator.

09:52And I'm using a whole four-pound fish as bait.

09:55Somebody's just bitten through a piece of wire.

09:57My metal leader has already been bitten off,

09:59so I know there's some kind of powerful predator out there.

10:03Oh, yep.

10:05Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!

10:09With a new line in the water, whatever's down there

10:11has latched onto an entire skipjack tuner.

10:18Nothing jumping yet, but whatever it was came up on the surface

10:24before it made that final hit.

10:29What's happening? It's off, is it off?

10:30Erm, what's happened there?

10:39Something has just torn the fish, torn its head off, basically.

10:47The fact that nothing actually jumped out of the water,

10:49the fact that this has just been cut pretty cleanly off the rest of the body.

10:56Erm, it's cut through flesh, it's also cut through the backbone,

11:01and it's cut through the gill plate here,

11:03so that speaks very much of sharp teeth.

11:06And that sort of shape there, it's like a signature.

11:09And the signature says very clearly, shark of some sort.

11:16This would explain my bitten-off leader,

11:19but I don't think this helps my investigation.

11:24Great whites, hammerheads and makos are all native to these waters.

11:28But I've already ruled out sharks because their bite marks are so distinct.

11:33I can't imagine a shark's jaw leaving the unusual bruises and wounds

11:36I've been hearing about.

11:40My investigation seems to be going nowhere fast,

11:44when one of my reels starts screaming.

11:48Yep, go!

11:53Get it, get it, get it!

11:57Wait, wait, wait, wait!

12:00No slack, no slack, no slack, no slack, no slack, no slack.

12:07We're on the braid now, we're off the nylon,

12:10and it's running, it's just running, running, running.

12:13Right.

12:15Nice feeling, oh, there it is, there it is.

12:17It's 40, 50 yards off.

12:19It's getting close to the boat.

12:23So a striped marlin, this.

12:26See the stripes, vertical stripes on the body.

12:30For a humble novice to see fishing, this is a landmark catch.

12:34Marlin are truly iconic fish, and it's the first time I've even seen a striped marlin.

12:44So, right, we've got very little time, we've got to get this back in the water quickly.

13:00But this is a striped marlin.

13:03You can see the stripes not so clearly now, vertically on the body.

13:06But, you know, this thing, everything tells you it's just built for speed.

13:12With a body as streamlined as a spaceship, the marlin is one of the fastest fish in the ocean,

13:18reaching speeds of up to 50 miles an hour.

13:20Its sword-like bill is used for hunting.

13:25When it attacks shoals of fish, this weapon stuns the prey.

13:29Look at those eyes, those are big eyes.

13:33One very interesting thing about this fish is fish are cold-blooded,

13:36but this particular fish, it has heating for its eyes.

13:38A specially adapted muscle provides heat energy to the eye and enables the marlin to capture light more quickly.

13:48Like a high-speed camera, this super-powered vision turns a blur of fast-moving prey into a clear target.

13:57Time to go back.

13:58OK.

14:00These natural-born killers are precision marksmen, perfectly adapted to the fast pace of the ocean.

14:09Um, marlin.

14:11That is a big predatory fish.

14:13Fishermen pulling in big marlin have been speared by that lethal bill.

14:18But these were accidental encounters, leaving a single distinctive wound.

14:30The stories I've heard speak of multiple wounds.

14:34I'm looking for an animal capable of a sustained attack, a persistent serial killer, or perhaps a pack of predators.

14:44I'm starting to wonder if I'm only skimming the surface of what's down there.

14:50I'm quite literally out of my depth.

14:54Regularly the depth sounder is picking up a thousand feet.

14:58There are times even when that can't find the bottom.

15:01And, um, this is just so different from the kind of fishing that I normally do.

15:05I'm used to fishing rivers and lakes that are tens or at most hundreds of feet deep.

15:10But this is a vast ocean.

15:14Even more than my usual investigations, finding a killer out here is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

15:26As we head back, I wonder if I need a new approach.

15:29Back in Santa Rosalia, commercial fishermen are bringing in their daily catch.

15:42Wherever I am in the world, the fishing docks can provide vital clues.

15:48A rogue's gallery of potential suspects.

15:51Perhaps here I'll find evidence of other big predators that prowl these waters.

15:56These are mackerel feathers. They used to catch mackerel.

16:01Um, which they're just unloading from this barrel here.

16:06Oh, the size of the eye on this fish.

16:12This is what goes for those brightly coloured mackerel feathers there.

16:14Very nice meal-sized fish, this, but, um, no question of this being a man-eater though.

16:24Quite a few nice yellowtail coming in.

16:27They are, of course, predatory fish.

16:29Very muscular they are, but no way are they any danger to anybody in the water.

16:35Over the years, my many trips to docks like this have given me a bit of a sixth sense.

16:43And I'm realising there is something missing here.

16:47One thing that has struck me is all this out here is perfect shark habitat, but no sharks whatsoever coming in.

16:54And I have to say I'm just finding that a little bit puzzling.

16:56I have definitely seen evidence of sharks in these waters, and shark meat can be highly profitable.

17:03So I'd expect to see them being brought in here.

17:07The fact that nobody is catching them is surprising.

17:11As with any investigation, an absence of evidence can be significant.

17:16And when I ask why they don't fish for shark, one man, who doesn't want to be filmed, gives me an intriguing lead.

17:25I've just been talking to someone who says if I really want to know what's going on here, there's a place I need to see.

17:31It's all a bit cloak and dagger, but, um, no, he was very clear that I need to see this place.

17:35He described a location further down the coast, which he referred to as a cementerio, a cemetery.

17:48The directions lead me down a remote dirt track, and the landscape becomes more barren.

17:57And as I get closer, I spot signs of death.

18:03There's something going on here.

18:17I'm on the hunt for a sea creature that has been attacking fishermen off Mexico's Baja Peninsula.

18:23A fearsome predator that inflicts unusual bite marks.

18:27My search for clues to the identity of the beast has led me to a location described as a cementerio.

18:47At first, it doesn't look like there's much here.

18:49This looks like just the kind of place where people, um, throw dead fish, which I suppose you could call a cemetery of sorts.

19:00So this is, uh, I don't know, what's that? That's a parrot fish or something like that.

19:09There's a strong stench of dead flesh, but I'm still wondering why I've been sent here.

19:14When something catches my eye. This is different. This is something different here.

19:26Suddenly, I'm surrounded by corpses.

19:28Uh, this is a shark.

19:30Oh, and I'm almost stepping on something here.

19:32I think this is probably another individual.

19:34There's the pelvic fins and there's one of the claspers.

19:37So this was a male shark.

19:39And, uh, this is...

19:42I'm assuming this is from the same individual.

19:44This is part of the tail.

19:45This is quite a large, quite a large shark, and fresh.

19:49Something over here.

19:55That's hammerhead.

19:58Things are suddenly starting to add up.

20:01And this creepy location is beginning to make sense.

20:08So, this is quite interesting.

20:10No sharks coming in at the port when I was there.

20:12And also, people very clearly saying nobody's catching sharks, but somebody is.

20:17And the fact that they're here on this deserted beach, not in the middle of the town,

20:20suggests that it's, you know, a bit on the shady side, shall we say.

20:27I'm guessing there's a local ban on shark fishing.

20:30And they're being caught illegally.

20:33In my experience, fishing bans are put in place when an animal is in serious decline.

20:39This may be a clue for my investigation.

20:41Nature hates a vacuum.

20:45And if the normal top predators are being removed, that could allow something else to take over.

20:51And perhaps that creature is behind the attacks I've heard about.

20:55I've seen a situation like this before.

20:57In the US, the alligator gar is an apex predator whose numbers have been severely depleted.

21:08Coming over.

21:09And this decline has contributed to a horrific invasion.

21:17With nothing to control their numbers, invasive Asian carp have taken over whole stretches of river in the Midwest.

21:25And a threatening disaster in the Great Lakes.

21:28There's up to 13 tons of these fish for every mile in the river.

21:37And I'm wondering if a similar thing could be happening here in Mexico.

21:42A new predator filling the void and wreaking havoc.

21:46Perhaps something much more terrifying than sharks.

21:52I need some local intel to find out exactly what's going on.

21:55Francisco has lived on this stretch of coast all his life.

22:03He tells me that when he was young, the sea was full of sharks.

22:11But people quickly realised that shark meat was very valuable.

22:16Fishermen here started catching them en masse to sell for shark fin soup.

22:21Sometimes using dynamite to bring in hundreds at once.

22:30That's very interesting.

22:32That's confirmed the suspicions that I was having that the shark here are in decline.

22:37They say it's a few decades since there was any number of sharks around.

22:41And yes, there is something else that's moved in and taken over.

22:46Something they call El Diablo Rojo.

22:49Translates as the Red Devil. Sounds very melodramatic.

22:52And they've given me the address of a fisherman who knows a lot about them.

22:57I may have my first concrete lead.

23:05The name of a devil-like beast and a man who can tell me about them.

23:11Is this Diablo Rojo the sea creature that I'm looking for?

23:15The fearsome animal that has been terrorising these waters?

23:19Which of these animals is most deadly to humans?

23:29Cows, snakes or sharks?

23:32The answer right after this.

23:37I asked, which of these animals is most deadly to humans?

23:40The answer? Cows.

23:43In the US, 20 people are killed every year by cows.

23:47Mostly workers on cattle farms.

23:49That's more than three times the number killed every year by snakes.

23:53And 20 times the number of people killed by sharks.

24:05I'm in Mexico, hunting for a mysterious sea creature.

24:10The perpetrator of nightmare attacks distinguished by strange bite marks.

24:16I found out that a severe decline in sharks has contributed to a new predator taking their place.

24:22Something the locals call El Diablo Rojo.

24:26The Red Devil.

24:28Could this be the nightmare beast I'm looking for?

24:32I'm just trying to puzzle out the possible identity of this Diablo Rojo.

24:35This red devil that I've just been told about.

24:37Now, clearly something pretty terrifying.

24:39Otherwise, why would you give it such a dramatic name?

24:42I've never heard of a red devil before.

24:45But I have come across the term devil fish.

24:52The grey whale was nicknamed devil fish because of its violent behaviour when harpooned.

24:57But although grey whales are big and they are found here, they're not really predators.

25:04I don't think they would attack multiple fishermen or inflict mysterious wounds.

25:08Another possibility is the devil ray.

25:12Manta rays are sometimes called devil fish.

25:15And that's down to the peculiar anatomy of their heads.

25:18They have these projections which look like horns.

25:20There are cases of rays plaguing the water when sharks go into decline.

25:27And manta rays are native to the Sea of Cortez.

25:31And they are cast as villains in some legends.

25:35Tales of them circling boats and attacking pearl divers.

25:38But rays are filter feeders.

25:41They don't have the anatomy to cause the unusual bite marks I've heard about.

25:46Another thing that's sometimes known as the devil fish is the kraken.

25:50This is a mythical giant squid that lives deep down in the ocean.

25:54And they say it comes up and it drags down ships.

25:57These highly intelligent beasts armed with barbed tentacles are creatures of mythology.

26:05But I wonder if there's a real creature that might have inspired this myth.

26:14I've tracked down the address given to me by the men at the shark graveyard.

26:18It's the home of a fisherman named Rafael.

26:20He says that when the red devils first appeared in these waters, he decided to try fishing for them.

26:31But it was no easy mission.

26:33Now, he grew up here. He's seen sharks. He swung with sharks. No problem at all.

26:45But he's telling me that this animal, the Diablo Rojo, is extremely dangerous.

26:50He tells me about one of his early devil hunting trips as a young man.

26:58It's 11 o'clock at night. He's got his children with him in a boat.

27:03He loses his fishing lure.

27:05But close to where he's anchored, there's another boat with a spare lure.

27:09Rather than actually paddle to the other boat, he just jumped in the water.

27:14He knew there were red devils down there, but he didn't think they would hurt him.

27:18He was wrong.

27:24They attacked him from every direction.

27:26He felt the flesh tearing from his stomach and neck as they started to drag him down.

27:30His children managed to pull him back into the boat, covered in blood.

27:44He said if he hadn't been able to get out of the water, that would have been it. He'd have been finished.

27:52There was many. No way of giving a number.

27:57But he says this is something that when you hook one and you're bringing it into the boat, they become cannibalistic.

28:03If one is struggling on a line, others will come in and devour that.

28:07He says it's almost like a piranha feeding frenzy.

28:10Now the thing about piranhas, from my experience, is if a piranha bites you, they leave a very clear signature.

28:18So I'm just curious if he's got any mementos of that particular incident.

28:22Are there any cicatrices, any markers?

28:25There are many.

28:27The attack happened more than 40 years ago, but he still has scars.

28:35This one reminds me of something I've seen before.

28:39The only thing that I've seen in my experience that's anything like that is caused by a pufferfish.

28:44Rafael's scar is too big to be caused by the beak of a pufferfish.

28:50But it is a very unusual wound, which certainly ties in with the other attack stories I've heard.

28:57The other sea creature that has a beak is a squid.

29:02What kind of animal? It has tentacles.

29:06I ask whether this animal has tentacles.

29:09Yes, yes. It's a calamar. I'm talking about red.

29:13He confirms. It's a squid.

29:16He gave me a weight, something like 70 or 80 pounds.

29:19That's got to be an animal, I don't know, four or five foot long.

29:22But from what he's saying, we're not talking solitary animals.

29:25We are talking about a squid feeding frenzy.

29:29I've never fished for squid before, and I'm eager to find out how to do it.

29:34When he shows me the lure he uses, it looks more like an instrument of medieval torture than anything I've ever put on a line.

29:42And this is the lure, this is the jig. He says, this is luminous.

29:45The squid are attracted to the glow, and their tentacles become caught on the spikes.

29:51These marks here are caused by the beak of the squid.

29:55He makes these up himself. He sort of makes them from bits of other lures.

29:58And he says, you often fish with these very deep, getting on for a thousand feet.

30:04I ask him if he can take me hunting for these devils.

30:08But he says, I'm a few years too late.

30:10As suddenly as these large predatory squid invaded these waters, they have now mysteriously moved on.

30:19There's something particularly chilling about a beast that is here one minute and gone the next.

30:24But now that Raphael has helped me identify these elusive pack hunters, I'm more determined than ever to track them down.

30:35There are many species of squid, but there's only one that matches the size that Raphael described of four or five feet.

30:43The Humboldt squid.

30:48They're certainly the right color to be called a red devil.

30:53And they have a beak made of one of the hardest natural substances on the planet, with the bite force of a lion.

31:03And I come across stories of Humboldt squid attacking divers that add to my suspicions that these are the animals I'm looking for.

31:10Another one came right up, I mean, grabbed my hand and yanked back so hard that it dislocated my right shoulder.

31:16That's how bad these squid can be.

31:18There are incidences of Humboldt squid attacks in different locations along the Pacific coast.

31:24It's so terrifying because, you know, just the thought of being eaten by something is just like something out of a horror movie.

31:34And hundreds of Humboldt squid sightings from California to Alaska.

31:38But as in Mexico, the squid seem to disappear as quickly as they arrive.

31:44With these animals having such a vast and seemingly random territory, pinning them down won't be easy.

31:50The reason they're called Humboldt squid is because they come from the Humboldt current, which is way down here in South America.

31:57It runs along the coast of Chile and Peru.

32:00And I've just come across some pictures of some very large Humboldt squid from a place called Paita in Peru.

32:06So I think I really have to check this place out.

32:08It looks like these alien animals are being caught in Peru right now.

32:14Finally, I feel like I'm closing in on the notorious Diablo Rojo.

32:19Here we go.

32:20I'm on the hunt for a notorious sea creature that's capable of inflicting horrific wounds.

32:38I've narrowed my search to a beast so terrible that Mexican fishermen named it the Red Devil, which I've identified as the Humboldt squid.

32:56These ultra-predatory squid move like a plague.

33:02I was told they have now left Mexico, but I've traced them 3,000 miles south to their home territory, the Humboldt current off the Pacific coast of South America.

33:12I've come to a remote Peruvian fishing town called Paita, a bustling port and a far cry from the small-scale fishing industry I left behind in Mexico.

33:32Clearly, squid have made a mark here.

33:36Right, this is a serious squid lure. It's definitely a squid lure. There's no doubt about that.

33:59But it's very heavy-duty and much more robust than the one they saw in Mexico.

34:03I mean, these are made out of thick steel. It's not just wire.

34:09And I'm guessing that, well, this is designed for animals of a serious size.

34:16I need to get fishing.

34:19The fishing industry here is one of the oldest in the world, dating back to before the Incas.

34:25With over 700 marine species, Peru is still one of the world's leading fishing nations.

34:40There's a lot of boats here. This really, you know, takes you back. You just don't see this kind of place at all very much in the world now.

34:48I'm taken to a commercial squid fishing vessel whose seasoned crew is out on these waters year-round.

35:00My chances of tracking down Humboldt squid are looking good.

35:03We head out into the vast Pacific Ocean. To find the squid we need deep water and we have to travel for days.

35:17As all signs of land disappear, I rapidly lose my sense of direction.

35:21It becomes sickeningly apparent that this is a far cry from the rivers and lakes that I'm used to.

35:31We've all been ill on this trip. Not just the film crew, you know, the boat crew as well.

35:36I thought the captain had been okay. Apparently the captain's been ill.

35:38As the days and nights blur, we continue further out to sea and there's no respite. The relentless sway of the boat is inescapable.

35:48As soon as you actually go inside, you don't have that reference point of the horizon.

35:53Unless you shut your eyes, you start feeling ill very quickly.

35:57Even the sea-hardened fishermen who do this for a living struggle with the tortuous pitch of the boat.

36:02But for these men to go to such efforts to find these squid, the catch must be worth the struggle to get here.

36:13Finally, after what seems like an endless journey, I'm told we're floating above squid territory.

36:20There's no way of reaching the bottom, so we deploy a drift anchor to steady the boat and we get our lines out.

36:26Here we go.

36:31The technique is basic, just hand lines and that vicious jig, coated in phosphorescent paint so it glows in the dark depths.

36:40This ghostly light combined with a scrap of dead fish and the jig's movement should trigger the squid's natural predatory instinct.

36:48I'm slightly concerned about the side of the boat here. I mean, no doubt it's all in the name of efficiency, so you can pull squid over easily, but that's actually lower than my knee.

37:02So I'm thinking if the boat's tipping a bit, if the surface is slippery, I can imagine it'd be very easy to go over the side.

37:07When Raphael, the fisherman I met in Mexico, got in the water with squid, it was only seconds before they attacked.

37:17And the fishermen here warned me that when men fall overboard, the squid converge and drag them down.

37:24And generally they're not seen again.

37:28Here we go.

37:32Whoa!

37:37I'm in Peru, hoping to catch a Humboldt squid to determine whether it is in fact capable of attacking and killing fishermen.

37:53Here we go.

37:55After three long days out at sea, I finally have something big on the end of my line.

38:00I think I can see it.

38:04There it is.

38:08This feels big.

38:11OK.

38:14The writhing predator fires ink as a defence mechanism.

38:25OK, coming aboard.

38:26Here we go.

38:32They're just flashing different colours here.

38:34Out of the water, this squid's colour flashes from a devil-like red to inky black.

38:41So this is the beast.

38:44This is a Humboldt squid.

38:46And just what a weird animal it is.

38:48You have the mouth in the middle there, surrounded by tentacles, and inside there you can see the beak.

38:54I have no doubt this is what caused the scar on Raphael's shoulder, and is the brutal weapon behind the other unusual wounds I heard about.

39:05It's the key piece of evidence that ties all my stories together.

39:08And they have more weird anatomy.

39:12This is the siphon. This is what it squirts ink out of.

39:15These bizarre-looking predators are like something out of a horror movie.

39:19An alien animal totally unlike any fish I have ever caught.

39:23Quite an impressive piece.

39:25Going back.

39:26This squid is a decent size, but I'm told they grow twice as long.

39:31Perhaps eight times the weight.

39:34And there's something even more terrifying about these animals.

39:38Within seconds, another line goes.

39:45And they keep coming.

39:46Here we go, coming around.

39:49Hey!

39:51Luckily that wasn't inked.

39:53Whoa!

39:55There's lots down here.

39:57These cannibalistic devils rise from the depths to attack other squids struggling on the fishing jigs.

40:04I'm told they hunt in packs of more than a thousand.

40:08Then, as suddenly as they first appeared...

40:11They're gone.

40:15They're gone.

40:19But I'm left in no doubt that these are the very same Diablo Rojo that invaded Mexico.

40:26And they are definitely the animal that has been attacking divers in the US.

40:31Grab my hand.

40:32But what about the five dead bodies that started this whole investigation?

40:36Since I was unable to track down the marine biologist or find any hard evidence,

40:40I now suspect that story was a hoax.

40:44But I think this is a rare case where reality is worse than fiction.

40:49Although the story that launched me on this investigation turned out to be made up,

40:54the creature that I found in the end, well, it's something that you just couldn't make up.

40:58It's all too easy to imagine falling into the water,

41:02two or three of them grab hold of you and take you down to the depths.

41:06Anyone killed by Humboldt squid wouldn't wash up on a beach.

41:11They would disappear without a trace.

41:13For me, the thing that's really creepy about them is the fact that they're here one minute, gone the next,

41:19and they can just pop up somewhere completely different.

41:20This is a species that travelled 3,000 miles from Peru to Mexico.

41:27Where is it going to turn up next?

41:31Who knows, it might be coming to a beach near you.

41:34Who knows?

41:35Who knows, it might be coming.

41:36Who knows, it might be coming to a beach near you.

41:37Who knows, it might be coming to a beach near you.

41:38You

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